


You'll wait a long time for me

by BrilliantlyHorrid



Series: We'll take it slow [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: But every time they split up the world ends, Coulson is a confusing guy, Eventual Coulson/Skye, F/M, I promise, One-Sided Attraction, Skye has some things to figure out, So that's kind of a big deal, eventually, skoulsonfest2k15redux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 23:31:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4412159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/pseuds/BrilliantlyHorrid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye is being sent to work on the Caterpillars base on her own, but she has one quibble: every time she and Coulson separate, the world happens to fall to pieces. </p><p>SkoulsonFest Day 4: "Do you ever want to run," Caterpillars</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll wait a long time for me

**Author's Note:**

> I promise this is a multi-parter guys.  
> Title is from 10 CC "I'm Not In Love."
> 
> Like I said, multi-parter! :P  
> Enjoy!

“I’m just saying, this happens every time,” Skye said, trying to sound more casual than she felt.

It wasn’t that she felt uncomfortable working on her own, or that she didn’t want to start setting up their Caterpillar compound. It just...felt wrong. Leaving right then.

When Coulson informed her that he wouldn’t be going with her, right after a particularly messy ordeal with Ward’s newer, scummier, biker-y version of Hydra, she immediately didn’t feel good about it. She wasn’t dependent on him, or afraid of being on her own, but saying goodbye after all that?

“I just think that if I leave now, I don’t know, the shit is going to hit the fan.” She elaborated, and Coulson sighed.

“Skye, things are never going to be calm around here--”

“I know that, obviously,” she interrupted, frustrated he wasn’t getting it. _How could he not? Has he been paying attention?_ “But right now just doesn’t seem like a good time.”

“When _will_ it be a good time?” She apparently wasn’t the only one getting agitated. She held her hands up, at a loss, and Coulson continued. “I need you at the compound, _the project_ needs you at the compound. I can’t just put it on hold to keep you here.”

Skye’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m aware of that,” she shot back. _What’s with the attitude?_ “I’m also aware that the council wants me out of here, because I’m a ‘distraction’ and a ‘risk’ and, oh, yeah, I ‘jeopardize your leadership,’ is that what Hanley said? Am I getting that right?” She had scoffed at the implications, but Coulson looked stricken.

“I’m not trying to get rid of you, Skye,” Coulson told her, and she rolled her eyes.

“Duh, I know that Coulson,” Skye retorted. “Of everyone who might send me away, you are the one I’m least worried about, believe me.”

Coulson frowned, just slightly. A small knit in his brow. “What does that mean?”

She stared at him, incredulous. After everything, did he really consider their behavior towards each other to be neutral? Maybe it was closer than the traditional SHIELD work partnership, definitely closer than the Director should be with any of his agents, but they were just the exception, weren’t they? They still got their work done, it wasn’t a problem, or anything he needed to deny. It was silly that he was trying to now.

“ _Coulson_ ,” Skye implored, trying to restrain her smirk. “Come on. You don’t need to pretend right now.” The director started to look decidedly uncomfortable, to Skye’s confusion. “I _know,_ Coulson.” Maybe that was his last line of defense, his last stand for professionalism. They could be each others’ priority, family, most important person, but they couldn’t say it out loud. That would cross a line.

It was nonsense, obviously everyone was aware of it to a degree. They may have interpreted it incorrectly; some seemed to think Coulson was like her dad which, yikes, no. She _met_ her dad, quite recently thank you very much. And he and Coulson were _very_ different people, thank god.

Or, as she overheard in one particularly charming conversation, some thought she was his “pet,” which: also ew. She wasn’t a dog.

So they tried to define it. A fool’s errand, for she knew better than to try to explain her relationship with Coulson. No matter how off-base their assumptions, though, they knew it was _there_. Coulson, however, didn’t seem to be in the mood to discuss it. Maybe because of the accusations and whispers, maybe because he felt an obligation to SHIELD. Skye decided she should probably back off.

“Wow, you are freaking out right now,” Skye observed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.” She waved her hand, as if she could wave the topic away entirely. Coulson pursed his lips slightly and nodded, pressing his fingers on the surface of his desk.

It was kind of surprising; he was always so open with her. She didn’t think it would be this much of an issue discussing it.

“I don’t know, Coulson. You know what I mean though, right?” He just stared. “ _Coulson_. We separate, and bad things happen. Did you not get the memo?”  

“So what, Skye?” He asked, exasperated. “Are you proposing you never leave my side?”

Skye tilted her head, fighting off a smirk. “I mean, if you want to go the traditional route, I think _you’d_ be the one doing the proposing. _Sir_ ,” she amended, anticipating his ‘not amused’ face.

But she hadn’t anticipated this. His face falling slightly. His eyes avoiding hers.

“That’s not funny,” he told her quietly, and Skye felt bizarrely like she was being chastened. He really didn’t want to even joke about it? Not even ‘old married couple’ style?

_What the hell?_

“Did I do something to offend you?” Skye asked, annoyed. Annoyed that she was probably going to end up leaving, despite her reservations. Annoyed that Coulson suddenly wasn’t able to be open with her, or joke with her or acknowledge that they were close.

Coulson actually looked surprised by that, standing up straight behind his desk. “Excuse me?”

It was like pulling teeth.

“Why are you treating me like a leper all of a sudden?”

He was downright baffled now, it appeared, and she wondered if maybe she had been speaking a different language all morning and no one said anything. Or if it was Opposite Day, or Make Skye’s Life Incredibly Difficult Day. As if he was responding directly to her leper complaint, Coulson stepped out from behind his desk, walking over to her.

“Look,” she told him as he approached, trying to get her point across without descending into a nonsense argument. “I’m not trying to be dependent or clingy or anything, I’m just saying that regardless of whatever _this is_ ,” she gestured between the two of them, “regardless of whatever the council thinks, when you and I split up--”

Skye blinked.

Coulson was kissing her.

 _Coulson_ had a hand on her lower back, pulling her closer to him, and another in her hair, and yup, his mouth on hers.

They had been almost this close a few times, embracing, but man, did the whole kissing part make a difference. Hands at her sides, Skye waited for him to pull away, which he did fairly soon. Her eyes had been open, due to some processing issues, but she closed them as he stepped back. Seeing his face up close after _that_ seemed invasive. Like she needed to give him privacy.

“Uh…”

 _That was unexpected._ What had they been arguing about again? Wasn’t he trying to get rid of her? No, he said he wasn’t doing that. He was avoiding her? That didn’t seem like the case now.

“Uh,” she repeated, needing to fill the deafening silence in the room. “I…” She looked around the office, like maybe it would offer up some clue as to what she was going to do in this situation. It was the same old familiar office, somehow not mind-blowingly different looking now that she had kissed Coulson in it.

_Because that happened._

She wondered what it was like for him, sitting in this office and hearing others complain about the two of them, label their relationship as parental, or skeevy. The whole time, thinking about doing _that_.

“Skye?” He called out quietly, and she looked up. He was still there, but had stepped back a few paces, given her room. She couldn’t even begin to decipher the look on his face, dreading what she might find there. Guilt. Hope. Curiosity. Sadness. Dejection.

“Yeah,” she answered, her voice cracking a bit. She winced, clearing her throat. “Yeah. Ah, when--? How long--?” _Why? Are you sure? Did you make a mistake?_

Coulson cleared his own throat, fiddling with his cuffs like a child dressed up on picture day. “A while, I think,” he said, and Skye was frankly surprised he had an answer. Even a vague one. She kind of expected him to immediately shut the situation down, maybe go out back and flog himself for good measure.

_Okay, Skye, exaggerating._

“I’m sorry,” he said, and there it was. “I shouldn’t have, that was--”

“No, no,” she found herself saying. She wasn’t sure if it was because it was Coulson, and she didn’t want him to worry, or because the idea of him being sorry he kissed her was sort of unpleasant. “Don’t be. Just…” She looked around the office again, again surprised it was all still standing. Hadn’t the world just been altered irreparably? It wasn’t as if everything should still be the same.

_But…_

“I might need, a minute. Or two. Or a day,” Skye rambled, and Coulson nodded profusely.

“No, yes, take all the time you-- it’s…” He sighed. “You don’t need to _do_ anything, Skye,” he told her, and she frowned.

“What do you mean?”

Coulson’s hand moved up to his hair, then seemed to think better, moving back to his side. Professional. Collected. Calm. “I mean...you don’t need to come up with an answer for me,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t want you to feel like you need to-- I’m not going to wait on you,” he clarified, clearly beginning to grow frustrated at his inability to articulate his thoughts.

_Join the club, pal._

“I don’t want you to feel pressured to come up with some sort of answer,” he finally told her, and she understood. He was offering her an out. They could pretend this never happened, walk out of here and act as if nothing had changed. She didn’t even have to reject him, something she wasn’t sure she would ever be able do to Coulson anyway.

_Would I reject him?_

That was just too much to consider in the moment.

“I’m going to train with May,” she announced. “Then I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll talk. About the project.” Coulson nodded, hands in his pockets.

Would she have an answer tomorrow? He said he wasn’t waiting around for one, so she doubted he would expect it. As she prepared to leave, Skye felt a sudden jolt of annoyance.

She had a bad feeling about them splitting up. Because every time they split up at a weird, emotional time, something terrible happened. She _told him_ this.

And he decides to go and _kiss her_ days before sending her off to an isolated location for who knows how long? Did he want it to get blown up, or the Playground to flood or neo-Hydra to attack unannounced? Maybe an alien invasion? It had been a while since they had one of those.

_The nerve._

He'd asked her once, if she ever wanted to run, to get away. She could do it, couldn't she? Disappear to work on the Caterpillar project, not come back. Run away from all of this. Did she want that?

 _Did he?_ Was that what he was expecting now, when he told her she didn't need to give him an answer? That wasn't her style. Maybe it used to be. Running away, changing who she was, avoiding her past and problems instead of confronting them. 

But she didn't do that anymore. After all, she knew what happened when they were apart. That had to mean something, right?

Looking over at the door, Skye hesitated. She knew it wasn’t quite goodbye yet; she would be back tomorrow. But simply leaving the room felt odd. Incomplete almost. Turning back she approached him slowly, wrapping her arms around his waist, pressing her head against his chest. She hugged him tightly, like she always did, feeling his arms slowly move to wrap around her. He didn’t try to pull her closer, or make it more than a hug, not that she expected he would. It was a hug, just like every other one they’d had.

Except it was completely different and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that, so she just squeezed him tighter and tighter until she was sure the fabric on his suit would leave an imprint on her cheek.


End file.
